


Hugs and Struggles

by Jadeycakes99



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Drug Addiction, F/M, Family Struggles, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 21:51:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 8,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1873779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadeycakes99/pseuds/Jadeycakes99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean in a junior in high school, he has a happy relationship with his mother, father, boyfriend, and sometimes his brother. Castiel, his boyfriend has an interesting family life, and is socially awkward, something is just off about his brother. Sam's newest girlfriend Ruby is going to bring hell, and Lucifer won't stop obsessing over him. I suck at summaries, sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Dean," Mary began cautiously. Her son was sitting at the table studying for his chemistry test, but really, he was texting.  
"Yeah Mom?" He smiled looking up at her. Mary took a seat beside him, her typical smile was replaced with her rare serious face.  
"Is something going on with Sammy?" She asked worriedly. Dean understood where his mom was coming from. His younger brother was acting weird lately, he stopped talking to his older brother, and broke up with his girlfriend Jess. He wrote it off as typical teenage angst though, so he hadn't really been paying attention.  
"I don't know Ma. He's always been a little strange," he joked. Mary smiled despite her worry.  
"Keep an eye on him okay? Ever since he started high school he's been worrying me."  
Dean squeezed her hand and nodded before getting back to his "studying." "Hey, is that Cas?" Dean rolled his eyes.   
"Why do you think that every time I'm texting someone it's Cas?" Mary put her arms up in surrender.   
"To be fair, it usually is Cas. I just wanted you to tell him that his family is welcome to dinner tomorrow."   
Dean wrinkled his nose at the thought of the entire Novak family coming to dinner. Balthazar was Sam's age and insisted on using a British accent. Anna was a sophomore in college, and he had actually gotten to third base with her, before he started dating her younger brother. Lucifer, even though he was only thirteen, was the black sheep of the family and had a crush on Sam, who was a year older than him, which annoyed the youngest Winchester to no end. If you didn't distract Gabriel with candy, he was usually pulling a prank on someone, he was sixteen years old, a year younger than Dean. And their father, Chuck, he was an author of a series that had a small cult following, and a bit of an alcoholic. Their mother, Becky, was a bit unstable, and hardly came to these functions.  
"Can it just be Cas mom?" He asked hopefully. He loved his boyfriend, but his family was a little much. She ruffled his hair.   
"Sure Sweetheart." And she went to start the food. While she was stirring something, and Dean had gone back to really studying, the door slammed.   
"Sam, Honey!" Mary turned from the counter and called. Instead of answering, he went upstairs to sulk for the rest of the evening. "Go check on him." She mouthed. Dean heaved a big sigh and nodded.

 

"Sam." His younger brother, who was laying face up on the bed, ignored him. "Sammy." Again, he got no response, and he noticed that Sam was wearing earbuds. He walked over and pulled them out, and if looks could kill Dean would be dead.  
"What?" He hissed.  
"Okay, I thought this was just some weird teenage angst thing you've got going on, but even Mom's noticing something strange. What's your problem? You stop talking to me, you know, the guy you used to tell everything, you're worrying mom, and whatever happened to Jess?"  
"I don't like her anymore." His face softened. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you guys. I'm fine. I guess I've just been a little tired lately." Dean didn't believe that excuse for a second, but he was grateful, because that was more than his little brother had said to him in a month.   
"Okay. Hey Mom wanted to invite the Novaks." Sam groaned and put a pillow over his face. Dean grinned.   
"But we decided just to invite Cas." Sam sat up and threw the pillow at his brother.   
"It seems like everywhere I turn Lucifer is there. It's going to drive me crazy."   
"I can't help it that some of my rugged charm rubs off on you." Dean smiled, relieved that this conversation was turning out well.  
There was a knock at the door and Dean turned around, torn between wanting to stay with his brother, and wanting to greet Cas.  
"Since when so you wait to snuggle up to your boyfriend?"  
"Hey." Dean looked at Sam in all seriousness, "I don't snuggle." Sam chuckled.  
"Okay." By then, the knocking had stopped, and Dean was about to go downstairs, since there was a strict rule saying no girlfriends or boyfriends upstairs, but first, he turned to his brother and said, " You should probably go talk to Mom. At least prove that you aren't psychologically disturbed."  
Sam rolled his eyes, but got up to join his brother in the kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

"Dean!" Castiel's polite smile that he had while conversing with Mary transformed into a full grin when Dean walked into the kitchen. Dean also smiled happily, and he walked behind Cas's chair and threw his arms around him. Mary smiled and was about to say something, when she noticed the other person in the room.  
"Hey Sam. It's nice to see you downstairs." Sam did his best to smile, but it was more of a grimace.  
"Hey Mom. Can I help?" Mary didn't answer him for a moment, a bit stunned that not on,y was he downstairs, but he was offering to help.  
"Uh, yeah. Could you stir that for me?" Sam grimaced and nodded, going over to stir the bowl his mother had indicated. She kissed his temple.  
"Thank you sweetheart." She was looking at Dean, but Sam's attentions were on the bowl. Dean just nodded.  
"No problem Mom," Sam replied.  
Castiel and Dean were sitting so close, that their legs were sandwiched, and they were huddled over Cas's phone giggling.   
"So Sammy, what ever happened to Jess?" Mary asked.  
"We broke up." Sam said curtly.  
"Are you seeing anyone else?" She pressed.  
"Yeah." He replied. Dean frowned. When he started dating Jess, the kid couldn't shut up.  
"Would you like to invite her to dinner too? You have about an hour still. What's her name?"  
"I don't think this is exactly her scene. Her name is Ruby." Castiel looked up from his phone. He knew exactly which Ruby he was talking about, and he didn't like it. He frowned.  
Before Dean could ask what was wrong, there was another slam of the door. John walked into the kitchen and kissed Mary. He was about to greet Dean and Cas, but when he turned around, he saw Sam.  
"Hey Buddy." John said suprised.   
"Dad." He nodded.   
"It's nice to see you not holed up in your room Kid." Sam looked like he was about to say something, but Dean, knowing that for some reason Sam was very short and unfair with their father, interrupted with a,   
"So Dad, Cas got a scholarship to Dartmouth."  
"Congratulations Cas!" John said. "Mary, do we have any champagne?" John allowed his kids to have champagne on special occasions, and he had genuine pride for his son's boyfriend, though he kind of already considered him his son in law.

 

Their dinner turned into a celebratory one, everyone joked and smiled, even Sam cracked a smile a couple of times. It was a generally happy evening. Dean went into the kitchen to get dessert, and he accidentally bumped into the cookie jar, that was was "cute," at least that's how Mary described it, but there were never any cookies in it. Dean rolled his eyes to pick up the glass, and then he noticed something had rolled under the cupboard. Much to his surprise, Dean found a syringe.


	3. Chapter 3

Dean didn't know what to do. To be fair, he wasn't quite sure who it was, but he did have a sneaking suspicion.   
"Dean, honey?" Mary called. Dean quickly put the syringe in the lower cabinet. "What was that?" She asked as she came in, looking at the shattered glass. "Oh no! I liked that cookie jar." Though she didn't sound too broken up about it.  
"Yeah, sorry Mom. I'll clean it up."   
"Thank you Sweetheart." She said, and went back into the dining room. Dean immediately ruled out Mary, though she definitely wasn't on his suspect list in the first place. He had an idea. As soon as the cookie jar was cleaned up, he went out into the dining room and resumed his place by Cas, who smiled and playfully nudged Dean's foot with his own. Dean shook his head, and focused his attention on Sam, and marginally John, but mainly Sam.   
"Gosh, I'm such a klutz. I knocked over that red cookie jar."  
"It's okay Honey." Mary said. John kept his gaze on his phone, but as he expected, Sam turned white as a sheet. He tensed, and looked at his brother who was glaring back at him. Cas recognized the harsh expression from when Gabriel died his hair blue. Sam's eyes were frightened and pleading.   
"Hey Sammy, can you help me with the pie. I guess I forgot it when I knocked over that cookie jar." Sam got up and followed his brother into the kitchen.  
"Dean listen..."  
"Yeah, you'll never guess what I found in there."  
"Where is it?" Sam went pale again. "Dean, where did you put it?" He walked over to the trash can and began digging through the trash.  
"Right here." Dean said, holding up the syringe. Sam went over to grab it, but Dean held it out of his reach.   
"Look Dean, you don't understand. It's not mine." Dean looked at his brother disbelievingly.   
"You expect me to believe that?"   
Meanwhile, in the dining room, "Could you go see what they're up to Honey?" Mary asked Cas sweetly.   
"Your girlfriend Ruby?" Dean asked.   
"Yeah, it's hers, I'm just keeping it for her because her dad looks through her stuff." Sam replied lamely.  
"I believe him." Cas supplied from the doorway. He had seen enough to know what the argument was about. "Ruby is kind of famous for that stuff."  
"Why haven't I heard about her?" Dean asked.  
"Because you don't listen to gossip." Cas said, almost laughing at Dean's question that was supposed to be serious. Dean nodded his head in agreement. "Sam, don't mess around with Ruby. She's trouble okay?" Sam glared at Cas.  
"Don't tell me what to do. You're my brother's wife, not mine." Dean was shocked by his brother's comeback. Cas was only trying to be helpful. In his moment of shock, Sam yanked the syringe from his hand and walked away. Dean slumped his shoulders and looked to Cas.   
"Dean," he began.  
"No. I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Cas nodded and kissed his forehead.   
"Come on, I'm sure some pie will cheer you up." Dean looked at him. Cas knew him so well. He grabbed the pie and plates and went to the dining room.   
"What happened to Sam?" John asked. "He just left." Dean just stared at him. It was beginning to be uncomfortable and creepy.  
"He said something about needing fresh air." Cas supplied when it was clear that his boyfriend wasn't going to say anything.  
"Okay." John replied, bewildered at his youngest son's behavior. Nothing like that had happened with Dean. Dean was always a good kid. The most surprising thing that had happened his freshman year was when he started dating Cas, and even that wasn't that surprising, he caught them kissing when they were in kindergarten. 

 

That night Dean heard his parents arguing, and the one word that he could make out was, "Sam." When said subject of their arguments finally came in, he stumbled into his room, where Dean was already waiting.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey Dean!" Sam exclaimed brightly. His eyes were half lidded, and his words were heavily slurred.  
"Sam, what the hell?" Dean asked angrily. Dean was angrier than he had been in his entire life. "Are you high?" He asked though he knew the answer.  
"Nope." Sam popped while shaking his head. "I'm tired though." He fell onto his be, and almost immediately passed out. Dean could tell he wasn't getting any answers that night, so he pulled off his baby brother's shoes, turned him on his side, and pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. When he left the room, he was greeted by John.   
"Oh, Dean." He said surprisedly. "Is Sam in there?" He asked. Dean rubbed his neck.  
"Yeah, but you know, he was tired, and he's already asleep."  
"Oh. Okay. Hey, could you drop him off at my office tomorrow? There's something I need to tell him about."  
"I usually take him from school because he has-" Dean paused, realizing that he was probably being duped, "He has mathletes."   
"Okay, when does he get done with that?"  
"Around five thirty, but I think I'm going to hang around and watch him in all his geeky glory." John looked at his son strangely.   
"I didn't think that would be your thing." John had a point, unless he was properly bribed, he wouldn't get above a C in math. Last year it had been the Impala, this year it was keeping the Impala.  
"You know, I need to keep my grades up, what better place to study?" John seemed to accept this answer.  
"Goodnight Dean." He said heading back to his bedroom. Dean followed as soon as he heard the door closed to listen to his parents talking.  
"I'm sorry Mary, I didn't want to wake him!" John said, his voice raised.  
"Why not? All he ever does anymore is come home late, leave at any hour of the evening, and sleep." Even through the door, Dean could hear his father sigh.  
"Maybe we should make some rules for him."  
"We have rules." Mary replied, confused as to what her husband meant.  
"We have rules like be respectful, and no partners upstairs, and no driving home drunk. Those are our rules, and they worked with Dean, but some kids need freedom, and other need structure." The room was quiet for a few minutes, and Dean was almost about to leave because he thought they had fallen asleep or something.  
"What kind of rules?" Mary asked finally.  
"Like, we have a curfew, he has to come down and have dinner with us, and he has to check in to tell us where he is."  
"Doesn't that seem a little strict?" Mary asked. Dean was sure that his father was going to bring up something about the army, that's what he always did when Mary thought that he was being harsh on one of his kids, but he could almost hear John mustering up self restraint before replying.  
"Let's just try it for a week, and if it doesn't help, we'll meet back and reevaluate the situation. Okay?" There was another long pause.  
"Alright. Let's do it."

 

The next morning, Dean slept in, and he wondered why no one had come to wake him. When he got halfway downstairs though, he could tell everyone else in the house was preoccupied.  
"Nine thirty?" Sam shouted. "Why not put an ankle bracelet on while I'm at it?"  
"Listen here, you're lucky with all the shit you've been pulling lately-"  
"John!" Mary interrupted him. "Look, what your father is trying to say, is that we are worried about you. We want to know where you are so we can be less worried."   
"Whatever." Sam walked to the front door despite John's protests, and slammed it shut.  
Dean shuffled back upstairs and got dressed. His phone rang.  
"Hello?" He said, he didn't need to look at his caller ID to know the only person in the world comfortable with calling him at this ungodly hour.   
"Dean, are you almost here?" He checked the time, and realized that it was already quarter to eight, he would have picked Cas up fifteen minutes ago." He rubbed his neck. "I'll be there in five minutes. I'm hitting a bit of traffic, oh look, there's a cop, better go. Love you, bye." Dean scrambled for his keys and wallet. He would tell Cas when they got to school, he didn't want to cause him any unneeded stress. Then he cringed. They hadn't said the L word yet. They had watched the show once in fifth grade, but they hadn't said love yet. Dean was in no way a shy boy, but he did want to do something special when he said it the first time. He knew Cas loved him, but he wanted to say it in the perfect moment, not rushed over the phone. As he rushed down the steps and straight out the door, he realized he forgot his shoes.  
"Dean-" but Mary got caught short with a kiss on the cheek and a,  
"Gotta go Mom, sorry." As he rushed to the Novak house, he was both upset that he had said, "I love you," in that moment, and feeling guilty that he felt upset about that when he had much bigger fish to fry, what with his brother. Cas settled into the passenger seat, and opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted. "It doesn't count, so don't you dare say it back." Cas looked confused.   
"What are you talking about?"  
"That thing I said. It so didn't count. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do, but that, what happened over the phone didn't count."  
"I don't understand." Dean couldn't tell whether Cas hadn't heard, or he was just already playing along coyly, either way, he was relieved.  
"Okay then."   
"If you were talking about how you told me there was traffic when you were obviously home still, then I forgive you." Dean looked over at his boyfriend astoundedly.   
"How did you..." He trailed off, still amazed by Cas's accuracy.   
"If there was traffic, how come I didn't hear cars?" Cas asked rhetorically. Dean smiled.   
"Sorry. Hey, can you get a ride home today?" Cas looked over at Dean suspiciously. Dean never passed up the opportunity to give him a ride home, because surprisingly, all of his large family was busy right after school for about an hour and a half.  
"Why? Does this have something to do with Sam?"  
"Wow, you have got to stop reading my mind Sherlock, but yeah."  
"Let me help. I'll have nothing to do between three, and four thirty, and though it's less preferable than the alternative, at least I will still be able to spend time with you." Dean smiled at him fondly. When they parked in the school lot ten minutes late, Dean pressed a kiss to Cas's lips.

In the cafeteria, Sam wasn't there. In the one class they had together, study hall, Sam wasn't there, and as expected, when Dean and Cas went to the mathletes club, Sam was not there.


	5. Chapter 5

The pair drove around for awhile with futile attempts to find the youngest Winchester, and eventually, Dean pulled into the Novak's driveway.   
"I'm sorry, that was a bit pointless." Dean said, voice broken.  
"It's okay Dean. Have you thought..." He trailed off, then began again cautiously, "have you thought about maybe telling your parents about what you found?" Dean had thought about that. He wanted to, but it there was an unspoken code between the brothers about not ratting on each other.   
"I don't know Cas. We'll see." Cas nodded and leaned over to kiss him goodbye before hopping out and slamming the door.  
"Dean drove three houses down, and pulled into his own driveway, where he was surprised to find his father's truck sitting. When he pulled open the door, both Mary and John's head snapped his direction so quickly, that he was surprised that they didn't get whiplash.   
"You don't know where Sam is do you?" Mary asked. Dean was surprised to say the least. His brother hadn't gotten home until two in the morning before, and they hadn't been so worried.  
"No, I went to go see him do mathletes, but he wasn't there."  
"Don't you have study hall with him?" John asked.   
"Yeah." Dean said imploring him to continue.  
"Do you talk to him? Have you seen him there in the past couple weeks?"  
"I'm usually with Cas and Charlie. Why?" Dean was sure that he already knew why though. Mary stopped pacing and took on a comforting tone.  
"Today I got a call. Apparently Sam hasn't been to school in a month. Do you have any idea where he could be?" Dean considered telling them then, but he didn't want to worry them further, so he just shook his head. John started pacing in her place. After about twenty minutes, there was a knock at the door. Mary rushed to answer it.  
"Hello Mrs. Winchester." A police officer asked.  
"Officer Sloan. What a surprise." Mary paled, she knew this had to be about her baby. Officer Sloan kept his face hard and didn't exchange pleasantries like they did on a normal basis.  
"Your son Sam was apprehended an hour ago for vandalism, upon apprehension, we found various illegal substances on his person." Mary was shocked. By then, John had gone to stand by his wife.  
"What kind of illegal substances?" He asked.  
"Well, we found a new drug that has been hitting the streets lately, demon blood, we also found marijuana and, we're still running it, but what looks like LSD." His face softened. "Look, you can come get him. I was able to vouch for him, and I did everything I could, but he's still going to have a court date. You can come pick him up now."  
"Thank you Kyle." John said, wrapping his arm tightly around Mary's shoulders. He nodded at the couple and walked down to his squad car and drove away.  
"Dad?" Dean asked quietly.  
"Not now. Look, I need you to stay here and make sure your mother is okay." Dean nodded numbly at his father, as John grabbed his keys and walked out the door. This was going to be a fun night.


	6. Chapter 6

The car ride home had been long and silent. Sam was sleeping, as he was rather inebriated, and John was keeping his eyes on the road. There was a sudden red light, and they jolted. Not a lot, but enough to wake Sam.   
"What? Dad?" He tried to assess his surroundings. He didn't remember getting into the car, or where they were headed in the first place. When John realized that his youngest was awake, he pulled over into an abandoned parking lot.  
"Sammy, are you okay?" Sam looked at his father, still confused, but he responded.  
"Yeah. I'm fine" he said trying to say as little as possible, as he was still tripping.  
"Why?" John asked simply. Sam waited for an explanation, so his father continued. "Why would you take drugs, or skip school? I seriously don't understand. You are near genius, your family loves you, are you unhappy?" He took a deep breath. "Did we do something? Please. Just... Why?" Sam laughed a little. He didn't mean to, but he felt really good.  
"I dunno. Love you Dad, goodnight." He said as he snuggled back into his seat and fell back asleep. John Winchester was crushed.he drove home honing all of his focus and energy onto the road. When they arrived home, he opened the passenger door, and helped Sam out of the truck by his elbow. He got to the doorway with Sam leaning heavily against him as they had done at the police station, and when they got inside, John carried his son up to his room and made sure he was on his side, pulled a blanket up to his chin, and kissed his forehead before turning the light off and heading downstairs. When he arrived in the kitchen, he found Mary with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a glass in front of her. He silently heaved himself to the cupboard and grabbed a glass for himself.  
"Where's Dean?" He asked gruffly, knowing that one of their arguments would start soon.  
"I asked him if he needs any space, and he said yes, so I told him to go take some." She winced as she took a sip from the drink in front of her. John walked over and poured himself a glass, imitating her actions.  
"So, what are we going to do?" He asked.   
"I don't know. I never thought this would happen."  
"Kyle suggested we hire a therapist for him, and honestly, I think it might help." Mary simply nodded. "How about schedule an appointment, and see what the doctor thinks we should do?" There was no great argument this time, Mary agreed.  
"I will make the call now. How is Sam doing?"  
"He's sleeping. I think he is still high."  
"Okay." She walked over to the phone, and started dialing, but after two numbers, she broke into giggles.  
"Mary?" John asked worriedly. She rolled her head back and laughed. "What is it?" She was in tears from so much laughter.   
"I don't even know the number to a therapist. I just started dialing random numbers." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry it's just-" she started laughing again, and John joined her. He kissed her while they were laughing, so it turned into a sloppy mess, and they just started laughing again. They sat with their backs against the wall and John's arm around her shoulders. That's how Dean found them when he arrived home three hours later, which coincidently, was when Sam stumbled groggily down the stairs.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean had just walked into the kitchen, and he looked at his parents who were asleep against the wall, on the kitchen floor. Sam was completely blank as to what was going on. He woke up, and all of the drugs that he took with him were gone, he apparently was not sleeping in Ruby's bed, which was very disappointing as there was no wake-up sex that followed. He walked into his own kitchen to find Dean, who had just walked in himself, and his parents who we're stirring awake. Dean looked amused, and he looked from Sam to his parents, and then his head snapped back to Sam.  
"Go back upstairs."  
"But Dean I-"  
"No, look, they're already extremely freaking pissed, just go upstairs." He couldn't help but soften at his brother's confused and upset face. "Please Sammy?" Sam just nodded, not sure as to what was happening, but his brother was serious. Sure enough, a minute later, they did awaken.  
"Hey Honey. What time is it?"  
"It's only nine."  
"Did you get dinner?"  
"Yeah, I hung out with Gabriel for a little while. Cas was busy."  
"You know you're going to feel sick tomorrow." Mary chided.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I'm assuming by dinner you mean whatever candy Gabe had." Dean rolled his eyes.  
"We had pizza."  
"Okay. I'm just going to go check on Sammy, and then I'm going to go to bed. Could you wake your dad up?" Mary wiped her eyes, unsure of her ability to make it up the stairs. She was just so tired. She pushed open the door to Sam's room, and found her son weeping. Walking over to his bed, she gently sat beside him.  
"What's wrong Sweetheart?" Sam dropped the pillow that he was hugging to his chest and wrapped his arms around his mother.  
"Mom, I screwed up." Mary soothed him. She ran her fingers through his shoulder length hair, and shushed him soothingly.  
"I know Sweetie. We're going to fix it though. Right?" He nodded against her shoulder.  
"I'm sorry Mommy." He sobbed pathetically. Mary couldn't believe her ears, nobody had called her that in twelve years.  
"I know." Once he stopped crying, Sam lifted his head from his mother's shoulder.  
"Mom, I-" Mary cut him off.  
"How about we deal with this in the morning? It's been a long day for all of us. There's leftovers in the fridge if your hungry." She yawned and tossled his hair. "Love ya Sammy," and she walked off to bed. Sam wasn't hungry, but he was starting to feel sick. He felt shaky and gross, his head was also spinning, and he was sad. Sam walked over to one of his hiding places and pulled out a syringe. Sam didn't want to do this. Well, he did, he just didn't want to have to do it. He was just sobbing about this being a horrible mistake, but he needed a hit. Sam inserted the needle into his arm, and ejected the sludge into his body. He quickly disposed of the needle, and laid down on his bed, he laid there in pure bliss for about twenty minutes before going back to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

John woke up to an empty bed, and as a result, he walked down to the kitchen, to find that Mary and Dean were awake, and Cas was at the breakfast table as well, but his youngest was nowhere to be seen. He decided to wait a minute to see if anyone said anything about it, and in doing so, he went to get some coffee.  
"Good morning." Mary pecked him on the lips before handing him a plate of breakfast. John grunted his appreciation before sitting down next to Cas.  
"Good morning John." Cas said.  
"Hey Buddy." John replied. "Do you want to toss the ball around later?" Castiel smiled, but his expression was quickly replaced with one of worry.  
"Are you sure? What about... You know... What about Sam?" John looked up at his wife who shrugged.  
"Mary and I have it handled. Don't worry about it Kid. Unless you're afraid of me beating you, again." He smiled. Castiel grinned back at him. John had been more of a father to him than his real father since he moved into the neighborhood when he was only four. John taught him how to ride a bike, how to throw a ball, and how to drive. He had even helped Cas when he wanted to ask out Dean. Chuck was a deadbeat dad, and Becky was obsessed with him.  
"I guess I'm taking Gabriel to the candy store." Dean said wearily. He really didn't mind hanging out with his boyfriend's brother, but he didn't want to admit it either. After about ten minutes, John finally had to ask.  
"So, where is Sam?"  
"Still sleeping." Mary replied.  
"Won't he be late..." He trailed off. What would he be late for?  
"Exactly. I scheduled his appointment for today, so he does have something to do."  
"Appoimtment?" Dean asked.  
"Yes." She said simply and took his empty plate to the sink. "Now you two will be late for school if you don't head out soon. Both of them kissed her on the cheek, as they headed out the door.  
"What time is the appointment."  
"It's in two hours. I'm going to take care of it." She replied sweeping his empty plate from him as well.  
"Are you sure?" John had his doubts about how taken care of this was. "You aren't really an expert on making them do anything that they don't want to do."  
"I've got it handled. Okay?"  
"Okay." He kissed her until she put a hand on his chest.  
"You, my love, are going to be late for work." He smiled and headed out the door. She cleaned the kitchen then went to go wake her son.

At the psychiatrist's office, Mary waited patiently outside, it was an our long, an when Sam finally came out his eyes were red and puffy. The psychiatrist walked out into the waiting room.   
"I'm going to chat with your mom for a minute. Okay?" Sam nodded and went to sit down.   
"What is it? What's wrong? What should I be doing?" Mary asked quickly.   
"Well," he began, "in my professional opinion, I would recommend an in patient rehabilitation program, I can give you the resources for that, and I would also reccomend starting him on antidepressants which I can write you a prescription for.   
"He's depressed?"  
"He is definitely showing signs of major depressive disorder. You can take the prescription from me, or one of the psychiatrist's working at the rehab, but the sooner the better.   
"Okay. I need to talk to my husband about the rehab, but I'll take the prescription." Her voice was wavering. She was upset that she didn't notice anything sooner. Once she had the prescription and various brochures about different rehab programs in her purse, she went back into the the waiting room and forced a smile on her face.   
"Come on Honey, let's grab lunch." Sam nodded and followed Mary to the car. 

John was typing away, and when he was finally done at five o clock, he got in his truck and decided to drive home. As soon as he began to start the ignition, he began to weep. He then proceeded to call his own father.   
"John? John, what's wrong?" Henry asked.  
"You know Dave?" The line was silent for a moment.   
"Of course I know Dave, he was my son. What's wrong John, why are you suddenly bringing that up?"  
"Sammy. He's... He's doing what Dave used to do. What did you do about Dave?"  
"There wasn't much we could do. By the time he started using, he was in college, and we didn't have a say anymore."  
What would you have done?" Henry sighed.   
"I would have done everything I could have to make sure that he was still alive today. I can't believe Sammy would do something like this.   
"Yeah, neither can I." John hung up, and rested his head against the steering wheel.


	9. Chapter 9

That night, Sam, Dean, Cas, and Gabriel, we're all at dinner.  
"This is delicious Mary." Gabriel said smiling. Mary grinned back, and Cas and Dean were staring, both disgusted and impressed by how much such a short person could fit into his mouth.   
"Just you wait for dessert." He clutched his heart.   
"Why couldn't you be... What? Five years younger?" Mary rolled her eyes at his antics. Dean nudged him in the ribcage, hard. Meanwhile Sam, didn't touch his food. He just stared at his plate.   
"So Cas, good thing you're good at school, because you wouldn't get a sports scholarship." John teased. Cas laughed at the goodnatured jib. "I kicked your boyfriends asks out there." John said, trying to distract Dean, whose concerned gaze was focused on Sam. They continued to talk about sports and such, until Mary brought out the cake, and Sam didn't budge.   
After dessert, Dean, Cas, Gabriel, and Sam all got up to leave, but Mary grabbed Sam's arm.   
"Wait." She said. As soon as the door definitely slammed shut, Mary walked over to the kitchen and handed Sam a glass of water, she then opened a few pill containers, and placed three pills in Sam's open palm. He looked at her for a moment, then over at his father, who was observing the interaction.   
"Isn't this a bit, you know, counterproductive? I mean if my problem is drugs, wouldn't giving me more drugs make it worse?"  
"The doctor came to the conclusion that you are depressed, and these should help." Sam looked between his parents again. He downed the pills.   
"I'm going to bed." He set the glass down, and went to his room, where he took even more drugs. 

Dean, Gabriel, and Castiel were all headed to a movie.  
"Did we have to take Fun Size with us?" Dean whined at his boyfriend.   
"I agree, why are you coming with us Gabriel?"  
"Come on, night with the boys, fun right? Plus Balthy has a girl over, Lucy is sleeping over at a friend's house, and Mom and Dad are in Vienna til next Friday." Dean just rolled his eyes. "The question is, why is Sasquatch not coming with us? Cas picked the movie, so I'm assuming it's something good ol Sammy will like." He pressed. Dean clenched his jaw, and Cas sent his brother a warning look.   
"Is it because of the Balthazar thing?"  
"What Balthazar thing?" Both boys shot a look to the backseat. Castiel's scrutinizing glare lasted longer, as Dean had to return his eyes to the road.   
"Seriously? Am I the only person who sneaks into the office to watch security footage so I can get incentives for people to owe me favors?" There was a long silence before Dean answered,  
"First of all, seriously? Second of all, yes, you are absolutely the only one who does that you spying freak. Third, what Balthazar thing?"  
"Let's just say, Ruby has been spending equal amounts of time with Sam and Balthy. Though she does seem more into Balthazar." He grinned and punched Cas on the shoulder. "Guess we win for sexiest little brother." He frowned at the words that came out of his mouth. "Let me rephrase-"   
"Shut," Dean let a longish dramatic pause, "up. Just shut up." As soon as he could he swerved the car completely around, and headed back to their street.   
"Dean, what are you doing?" Castiel asked gruffly, quite taken aback by the sharp turn. "Dean," he repeated, "what are you doing?" Dean's catatonic stare remained on the road.


	10. Chapter 10

There was no sound coming from inside the car, save for a few snorts from Gabriel whenever Dean ran a red light, until they got to the Novak residence. Dean slammed the car door shut, and Castiel followed him to the house. Dean jiggled the knob.  
"Do you have a key?" He asked quietly. Cas wordlessly pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Dean sauntered in to the house. Cas followed him carefully  
"Where is Balthazar?"  
"I don't know. Probably the basement, but wait. Don't you think we should talk before you do something to my brother?"  
"It's not your brother I'm worried about." He calmly walked to the door of the basement. He went down the steps, and Castiel followed him.  
"Remember, you can't hit a girl." He stage whispered. Dean just snorted. Ruby was straddling Balthazar on the couch, and their lips were locked."  
"Ruby." Dean said. The couple froze and looked to see Dean standing beside them angrily and Cas watching tentatively from the stairs.  
"Dean Winchester?" She said in a questioning voice. She never talked to either older brother, ever. Dean froze he didn't exactly plan this far ahead as he could barely think over his fury.  
"What did you do to my brother?" He asked eventually.  
"Nothing. Is Sam okay?" She asked, seeming mildly concerned.  
"No. No Ruby, he's not. Sam is a smart kid, or he was anyway, and now he's ruining his life!"  
"Hey!" She exclaimed whilst dismounting. "Whatever you think I did to Sam is wrong. No one held a needle to his arm."  
"It's true." Balthazar interrupted. "Ruby doesn't even touch the stuff."  
"Do you?" Castiel asked.  
"Of course not." He said with his British accent.  
"Listen, I sell, he buys. End of story."  
"If you don't stop selling to him, you're going to wish you had never been born."  
"Are you threatening me?"  
"What are you going to do about it? Call the police?"  
"Fine. I promise I won't sell to your brother anymore. Now, if you don't mind, I was in the middle of something." She said, crossing her arms. Dean shoved past Cas, and then, upon reaching the landing, shoved past Gabriel.  
"Dean!" Cas called, also shoving past Gabriel. "Dean, hang on!"  
"What do you want?" Dean asked.  
"I know you're upset about Sam, but you have to calm down okay?"  
"I am calling don't tell me call down!" Dean said angrily. Cas rubbed his hands over his arms.  
"Maybe you should talk to Sam. We can always go see a movie. Just talk to your brother. Okay?" Dean relaxed under Cas's hands.  
"Okay. But not tonight. Since your parents aren't home, can I please stay in your room." Cas nodded and pressed a kiss to his forehead.  
"Come on." He grabbed his hand, and led them upstairs to delay the chat. 

 

"John, I don't like it. They have crazy rules, they can't leave the facility, they have a goddamn television time, and a time for lights out. Sammy made a mistake, I don't want to send him to prison for a mistake."  
"He's going to end up like my brother,"  
"No. Sam is not your brother. Your parents kicked your brother out of the house, Sammy needs to be nurtured."  
"Are you honestly telling me that my parents are responsible for his death?"  
"They sure didn't help him. John, Sam needs to know that he has a family who loves him, and that won't be enforced if we send him away."  
"We're not sending him away. We're taking him to a hospital so that he's healthy!"  
"We are sending him to prison. I watched One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest!" There was a long pause, and Mary put her hand to her face, and they both chuckled.  
"It's not like that Mary. First of all laws have changed since the fifties, and lobotomies are not in practice anymore, not to mention, he's depressed and an addict, not crazy."  
"What about the rules?"  
"A few rules won't hurt the kid. You had a ton, and look at the wonderful person you turned out to be." He said, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips to her forehead. "Besides, we were talking about giving him a few rules anyway." Mary looked at him for a moment.  
"Fine," She conceded, "but, if he calls us, and anyone has mentioned so much as a stoic Native American, we are taking him straight home. Deal?" He kissed her.  
"Deal. Let's take him the day after tomorrow."  
"Okay." They finally went to sleep, unaware that their son was currently blissed out of his mind in the room a few doors down.


	11. Chapter 11

"Mom, you don't understand. I haven't had any for days." Sam lied. "Dad?" He added as a desperate plea.  
"Look Kid, my brother went through the same thing, and he said he stopped doing drugs as well, but he lied every time, and he died when he was twenty four. We just want you to get better."  
"You can't be serious." Sam stated trying to hide the fact that he was terrified.  
"Sweetheart, it'll only be a month." Mary said, her eyes brimming. "And we can visit you all the time, plus you can catch up on your school work." Sam felt defeated. After Dean left for school, he had been having this discussion for two hours.  
"What do I need to bring?" He asked flatly.  
"Just some clothes, and pictures or something like that." Mary said, he eyes red and puffy.  
"I'll help you pack later. I'll take you out to breakfast, okay?" Sam nodded, though he really didn't want to.

Dean was moping. He hadn't said a word during lunch, and Cas, Gabriel and Jo were talking, while his head was buried in his arms. Jo kept looking over concernedly to him, and Cas was rubbing his back the whole time.   
"What do you think Dean?" She tried. He looked up.   
"About what?"  
"Do you want to see a movie tonight?"  
"No." He replied shortly before burrying his face again.   
"What's wrong?" She mouthed at Cas, but he just shook his head and continued running soothing circles into his back.   
Dean drove Cas home as usual, but when he quickly checked his phone, he had a text from Mary.   
"Are you coming?" Cas asked.   
"My mom wants me to come home."  
"Is everything okay?" He asked before remembering the circumstances. Dean just glared at him.   
"No clue."  
"Make sure to call me later." Cas said worriedly. Dean nodded and pulled out of the Novak driveway.   
When he arrived home, the first thing he noticed was his dad's truck. He either stayed home or came home early that day. When he walked inside, the second thing he notice, was two suitcases sitting by the stairs. Suddenly he was worried about all of the fighting that his parents had been doing lately. He looked around for his mom and dad, and found his entire family in the kitchen. His stomach dropped. We're his parents getting a divorce? Was Sam going to jail? No that wouldn't make sense to bring suitcases. Dean's thoughts were jumbled together, and his mouth felt dry.   
"What's going on?" He asked numbly.   
"They're sending me away." Sam said in the same tone. Dean was suddenly confused.   
"What?"  
"Tomorrow we are taking Sam to a hospital for a little while, and I thought you might like to spend some time with him tonight." Mary said sadly.   
"A hospital?" Dean asked, still not catching on.   
"What she means is, a mental health facility." Sam spat out. He stood up and started walking out.   
"Where are you going?" John asked quickly.   
"Do you want to come watch me take a piss?" Sam asked in a very angry voice. He felt betrayed. All of his life, his parents trusted him. John had gone into a detailed discussion about why they couldn't give him the benefit of the doubt this time, all reasons relating to the uncle he never had, and to be fair, Sam really wasn't sure he could quit on his own, but   
it still hurt. Everything hurt. His girlfriend was gone, his dealer refused to have even a hurried phone conversation with him, his brother was angry with him, and his parents kept looking at him with this sadness in their expressions, but he was already so sad and angry with himself. He boiled a tarry liquid in a spoon, and sucked it up with on of the syringes he had in the bathroom. After calming down from the initial warmth, and feeling his shakiness and physical pain ashamed that he had from starting withdrawal as a result of being under the constant supervision of his parents all day, he discarded the evidence and went back downstairs. Dean was waiting there, and as soon as he saw Sam, he pulled him into a hug.   
"I love you De." He said. He felt good.   
"I'm going to visit you every day."  
"That's nice." Sam replied.   
"Sam? Sam!" Was all Sam heard before slipping out of his brother's girl and onto the floor. He was too fired to respond.   
John quickly went over to check his younger son's pulse, and he pulled out his phone.   
"Hello? I need an ambulance. It's my son." Sam was breathing, and his heart was beating, but he needed to make sure his son was okay. Dean was looking at the scene with wide eyes, and he was terrified, much like his mother who was gripping his shoulder as if her life depended on it.


	12. Chapter 12

When Sam awoke, he was in a hospital bed, and there were restraints around his arms. He was seating and shaking, and had just woken up from a terrifying clown nightmare.  
"Hello?" He called out. A pretty nurse walked over to him.  
"Hey Sugar, are you alright?" She asked.  
"Where's my family? How did I get here?"  
"You passed out, and we found drugs in your system. We moved you to the psych ward because you were stable, and you are restrained right now, because you were thrashing around very violently in your sleep, and we were afraid you might hurt yourself. I can undo those for you if you're going to be awake for a while." She answered pleasantly.  
"Where are my parents, or my brother?"  
"We asked them to leave until after your withdrawal period is over. Speaking of, how are you feeling Sugar?"  
"I feel like I'm going to die." He said, his skin was crawling, and his insides were boiling.  
"I'll get a doctor to check up on you." She smiled sympathetically. The doctor came in, and took his temperature, blood pressure, asked for symptoms, and did his best to explain the situation.  
"These next few weeks won't be easy. It will be painful, and difficult. We are going to keep you here until you're done withdrawal, but after that, you're family has requested that you be transferred to Lawrence Behavioral Health Institute." Sam nodded, not really taking in the doctor's words, as he couldn't really concentrate on anything except for the ants crawling all over his skin. He was itchy and in pain, and nauseous.

"Dean. Cas is here." John said, against the frame of his son's door.   
"I don't want to talk to anyone right now." Dean groaned.   
"Yeah, but maybe it'll be good to talk to him, Kid. I've known you kids for awhile, and Cas loves you almost half as much as your mother and I do, which is a hell of a lot." He said, smiling a weak tired smile.   
"Can you send him up even though Sammy isn't here?"  
"As long as you promise to behave." John retorted. Dean laid back down on his bed. A few minutes later, Cas entered.   
"Hey."  
"Hey." Dean didn't make any effort to move, so Cas went to lay next to him on the bed. He copied Dean's position, putting his hands behind his head and drawing his knees up.   
"Is Sam okay?" He asked after a few minutes of companionable silence.   
"Yeah." Cas scooted closer, so that their shoulders were touching.   
"Do you want to talk about-" he was cut off.  
"No." So Cas just laid there staring up at the ceiling next to his boyfriend.   
"Lucifer is worried." He said after a few minutes. "He has the biggest crush on Sam." Dean didn't react. "Don't get me wrong, I'm worried about Sam too, but since he's fine, right now, I'm worried about his brother." Dean felt tears prickle his eye, so he turned over and buried his face into Cas's chest, so Cas responded by wrapping his arm around Dean.   
"Dad had a brother, and he died from drugs, and that one senior last year, and you hear about that kind of stuff all the time, and I tried giving him a hug, but he just passed out, and I thought he was dead. I want him to be okay Cas. I want my parents to stop arguing over him. I was thinking, what if he wasn't my brother, it would be so much easier, but then I felt bad about it, an now? Now I'm just tired, and I don't know what to want or think, or do. Everything that I could do is useless. I can't visit him, I can't make everyone else stop worrying over him. I'm scared Cas. I don't want my baby brother to die." Cas rubbed down his side, and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.   
"Sam is going to be okay. He's in the hospital, and he's going to get better." Cas said confidantly. "He would never leave behind such a great big brother." And that made Dean feel a lot better than it should have. He reached an arm across his boyfriend's stomach.   
When Mary went up to check on the pair, she found them fast asleep like that, and smiled a relieved smile before going back downstairs, relieved that in that moment, she only had one son to worry about.


End file.
